The New York Times apologized for publishing an anti-Semitic caricature

The New York Times (NYT) apologized in its Monday edition for the publication of a caricature with strong anti-Semitic symbolism graphically represent White House policy towards Israel.

The caricature was published last Thursday in the international edition of the American newspaper and shows President Donald Trump blind and endowed with a kippah, guided by a dog in the face of Benjamin Netanyahu carrying the Star of David in necklace. The whole scene has an undeniable air to the old caricatures with which the Nazi regime stigmatized the Jews.

The drawing has triggered hundreds of critics around the world. CNN, Fox, The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel have published critical reviews on the subject.

This Sunday, the newspaper apologized on social networks and Monday in its print edition. "The picture is shocking and it was a mistake to publish it"the newspaper said in a note from the editor.

"We apologize" for the publication, said Eileen Murphy, spokesman for the newspaper. "These images are still dangerous and at a time when anti-Semitism is growing in the world, it's even more unacceptable."

"Apologies not accepted", replied the American Jewish Committee.What does this episode say about your decision-making process? What are you going to do to repair it?"he asked.

In the past few hours, the newspaper has published an article explaining the whole process that led to the publication of the unfounded piece. The drawing belongs to the Portuguese designer Anotnio Moreira Antunes and was printed in the newspaper Expresso de Lisboa. It was then indexed by CartoonArts International, an organization that recovers caricatures from around the world for resale to newspapers.

An editor of the opinion section of the NYT International Edition downloaded the cartoon from the CartoonArts Foundation and decided to publish it to illustrate an article by Tom Friedman on foreign policy that did not even have to to see with Israel.

The Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, he tweeted Sunday, condemning "anti-Semitism" in all its forms, including the New York Times cartoons, and reaffirming his alliance with Israel.

The spokeswoman for the newspaper refused to identify the publisher but acknowledged that she "was working without sufficient supervision" due to "failed process"which is now under revision. "We are reviewing the internal processes and there will be significant changes", he anticipated, in an attempt to calm the claims.

The newspaper also released Sunday a column of tough opinion of Bret Stephens in which he recommended to the newspaper "serious thought about how he came to publish something like this "what he defined as "a shocking act of ignorance of anti-Semitism"